The finals of the competition were held last Saturday (7 December) at the RiseUp Summit in Cairo which was held at the American University in Cairo (AUC).

Itida said in a statement last week that six startups, namely: Agora, Bouita, Arcanium Studios, 247Medic, Find Me Football and Alkottab Game Studio, received a total of $60 000 in cash prizes to help them build and grow their businesses.

The six were selected from 28 finalists from across nine African countries. The competition was made up of an app as well as a games development track.

Egypt’s Agora won first prize in the gaming track and was awarded $15 000, while Cairo-based Alkottab Game Studio was placed second and took home $10 000. Arcanium Studios, also from Egypt, was placed third and won $5 000.

In the application development track, Algeria’s Bouita won the first prize of $15,000, while the second and the third prize were shared between Egypt’s Find Me Football and Nigeria’s 247Medic who each took home $7500.

Itida vice president and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC) chairperson Hossam Othman, commenting in the same statement, said that all the competing ideas were innovative and across diverse industries such as health, sports, and tourism, adding that there were a lot of creative ideas from Nigeria, Algeria, and Egypt.

RiseUp CEO and co-founder Abdel-Hamid Sharara said the two organisations were impressed when they saw how the entrepreneurship scene across Africa is generating innovative ideas like what they saw at the pitch competition.

The winners got a chance to join an accelerator programme provided by TIEC and were also granted exhibition spaces at the next RiseUp Summit, in addition to certified training grants for all teams through the African App Launchpad platform.

Africa App Launchpad aims to build the capacity of 10 000 learners and establish 100 startups while positioning Egypt as a hub for startups in Africa by gathering some of the continent’s best startups in one place.

The initiative was launched by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi last year at the closing ceremony of the World Youth Forum (WYF) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Featured image: An African App Launchpad Cup participant pitching before a panel of judges in American University in Cairo (Itida)

Daniel Mpala

Daniel's focus is on the African tech startup ecosytem. Besides that, he's very passionate about online security and privacy as well as international affairs. He studied International Relations and Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. DM on Twitter @daniel_mpala or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-mpala-877aa466/